Dancer Maureen Fleming was born on an American Navy base in Japan where her father was a lieutenant commander, but she has plenty of history in St. Paul. Her grandmother immigrated to St. Paul from Ireland in 1910 and her uncle was a local monsignor -- Father Francis Fleming of St. Olaf Church.
From mid-elementary school through college, Fleming went to Minnesota schools such as Our Lady of Peace High School in St. Paul and the now-defunct College of St. Teresa in Winona.
Fleming lives and works in New York where she puts on workshops at New York University and is a guest artist at the Juilliard School. The regional premiere of her new piece, "B Madonna," which Fleming calls "the best of her work," is Saturday at the O'Shaughnessy at St.
Catherine University.
Her dancing almost ended before it began. When Fleming was 2 years old, she was in a car accident that caused her to lose the disc between her fourth and fifth vertebrae. It could have paralyzed her, but it inspired her to begin dancing -- twisting and untwisting her joints to increase blood flow and flexibility.
Fleming hopes "B Madonna" is as much a spiritual journey for the audience as it is for her. The choreography focuses on aligning the body's spiritual center through a series of drawn-out movements and three-dimensional video projects designed by Christopher Odo, one of Fleming's longtime collaborators.
"I'm performing one image and the same image is reflected in front and behind me," she said.
Her work with performing images is heavily influenced by her formative years spent in Japan, specifically by "Butoh," a contemplative Japanese dance developed in postwar Japan. "(Butoh) begins with an image. Instead of lifting your arm, you would imagine that a smoke ring moves up your spine and off your arm," she said. "Each movement is connected to an image. That's how I create.""You get a sense of things happening simultaneously. It becomes like a visual theater."
Butoh is more improvisational, however, while Fleming's work revolves around making choices and then assembling them to create a theme. "I record a lot of my improvisations on video and then choose moments that look like two things are happening at the same time," she said. "For example, a moment that looks like I'm being born and dying, or a moment that looks painful and pleasant."
"B Madonna" is part of the O'Shaughnessy's 19th annual Women of Substance series, which Fleming says has always interested her.
"I like the value of the Women of Substance series that you see things from different perspectives," she said. The performance also has a companion gallery exhibition called "O Black Maddona" at Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, 1890 Randolph Ave.
, St. Paul, running through Sunday.
Fleming's performance will feature text by David Henry Hwang and music by Philip Glass performed live by pianist Bruce Brubaker, accordionist Guy Klucevsek and Taiko drummer Kaoru Watanabe.
IF YOU GO
What: "B Madonna," a performance by Maureen Fleming
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The O'Shaughnessy, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul.
Los Angeles: Singer Adele has revealed that Queen of Pop Madonna's 1998 album Ray of Light was a direct inspiration for her own highly-anticipated record ‘25’. Adele's new album ‘25’ is scheduled for release November 20, reported Rolling Stone.
"You know what I found so amazing about that record? That's the record Madonna wrote after having her first child, and for me, it's her best. I was so all over the place after having a child, just because my chemicals were just hitting the roof and shit like that.
"I was just drifting away, and I couldn't find that many examples for myself where I was like, 'they truly came back to themselves,' until someone was like, 'Well, obviously, Ray of Light'," Adele said. The 27-year-old singer's lead single "Hello" smashed records worldwide.
If you're a child of the '70s or '80s who grew up listening to pop music, chances are you were a fan of Prince, Madonna or Michael Jackson. These three artists dominated radio whilst pioneering the music video as an art form. They went way beyond what any other popstar before or since has achieved and all three are the reason that pop today is such a visual medium. Before this trio became a part of the public consciousness, having a great song was enough to be a star. They literally changed the rules of the pop game.
Personally, although I appreciate Prince, I wouldn't call myself a fan, and for that reason I'm just going to focus on MJ and Madge in this article. Who has the most iconic imagery? Who's tours have offered the most visual spectacle? And which of them can lay claim to the greatest music video of all time? Let's take a look back on two unparalleled careers and try to answer the question of whether Madonna or Michael Jackson is the greatest visual artist of all time.
Thriller: the beginning
Thriller might have marked the turning point for the music video as a form of promotion, but it wasn't the first of Michael's videos to make waves - that would be Billie Jean, the album's second single, which became the first music video by a black artist to get heavy rotation on MTV. That video was nothing special, but Jackson quickly followed it up with Beat It, a much bigger visual spectacle which Billboard crowned the video of the year.
But it's Thriller which truly put the music video as an art form on the map. There's nothing to be said about this epic clip which hasn't been said a million times - it's quite simply a masterpiece. The choreography in particular, which Jackson devised with Michael Peters, has spawned countless recreations over the years, and is not just synonymous with MJ but with Halloween too. The video cost half a million dollars and without it, the careers of everybody from Britney to Justin and, yes, Madonna herself, would likely never have got off the ground.
I hear you call my name...
Whilst Jackson churned out numerous visual epics in the decade that followed, often embracing the "music video as mini movie" format, Madonna discovered quickly that the best way to make an impression was to enhance her visuals with a secret ingredient she had absolute mastery over: controversy.
And what could be more controversial than presenting white middle America with a black Jesus? The clip came six years after Thriller in 1989, and depicts a black man being wrongly arrested for the murder of a white woman. Madonna, having witnessed the murder, goes to church where she finds a caged black saint who seems to be the man from the street. Crosses burn, Madonna dances in a state of undress, and curtains fall to reveal the whole thing was a performance.
There are various interpretations of the video and the way it infuses themes of race, religion and sexuality. The lyrics to the song itself - "I'm down on my knees, I want to take you there" - are basically about giving head, which you can imagine didn't go down too well when paired with the religious imagery of the video. So great was the outrage that Pepsi, who had just paid Madonna $5m to use Like a Prayer in a new commercial, dropped their association with her. (She got to keep the pay cheque.)
The controversy didn't scare Madonna. If anything, it fuelled her, and the power of sexual imagery became the blueprint for most of her videos in the following years. The interesting thing about the scandal was that it actually had a negative effect on her sales - Like a Prayer was a number one single, but the album sold 10 million copies fewer than True Blue three years earlier. Whilst MJ's videos were strictly a promotional tool for his music, Madonna's had become completely at one with her image, and arguably helped create a brand around her which was more important than her record sales.
After the '90s: Madonna's continued dominance
By the year 2000, Michael's public image had become so tarnished by plastic surgery and damaging allegations that his music was no longer a talking point. 1995's HIStory had sold 3.5 million copies in the US, half the figure of Dangerousfour years previously, and he hadn't released anything in three years.
Madonna had been through a quiet period of her own, releasing the deathly dull Bedtime Stories in 1994 before focusing on the movie Evita, but she came back in a massive way in '98 with Ray of Light. The video for lead single Frozenmarked a complete creative rebirth for the Queen of Pop.
Controversy had been replaced by artistry. Shot by Chris Cunningham, whose previous video credits were for relatively unknown acts like Aphex Twin, Frozenis a surrealist gothic masterpiece which is less concerned with a storyline (in fact, it doesn't have one - it's just about Madonna shapeshifting into a black dog and a flock of birds) than with creating something potent and visually arresting.
Whilst Michael's videos had more or less covered the same ground thematically during the '90s without any real change in visual style, Madonna had moved the game on. Already known for her ability to reinvent, Frozen told the world not to get comfortable. Expect only the unexpected. And so, whilst the video for MJ'sYou Rock My World barely caused a ripple in 2001, Madonna had shapeshifted seamlessly into the most important visual artist of the new millennium.
Bringing the imagery to the stage
But for both artists, the music video was never the pinnacle of their art: it was the ability to put on a performance which elevated them way beyond their peers. Their legacies were created on the stage. Jackson only toured solo three times, but all three were among the biggest concerts tours of all time. He could sell out Wembley in a matter of seconds... five times over.
This performance of Bad from Yokohama, Japan in 1987 illustrates perfectly Michael's approach to performance. The spotlight is on him, the theatrics are minimal, and there are no dancers vying for your attention. Despite the minimal stage set-up, it's absolutely impossible not to be awed by Jackson's charisma and energy. The crowd in Japan seem a little reserved, but in this clip of Black or White from Wembley in '92 every single person in the audiences is losing their mind.
By contrast, Madonna's tours are notorious for the sheer spectacle they deliver. Before she was a singer, Madonna had trained to be a dancer and left home at sixteen to follow her dream in New York City. She'd started at the bottom and her appreciation of dance as an art form is inherently clear in each of her tours. Unlike Michael, she's just one component of something bigger.
This performance of American Life from 2004's Re-invention Tour brings the song's highly controversial anti-war music video (it features a doctored clip of George Bush using a hand grenade to light a cigar, to give just one example of why it went down like a lead balloon in America) to life on stage. In terms of choreography, it's militaristic and cold. Whilst Michael's performances were all about channeling the energy of the song into the audience, Madonna is a pro at using performance to make a statement on a bigger scale - not that everybody appreciates that. The Re-invention Tour split opinion, with some fans remarking that they'd expected to attend a concert, not a political rally. Nonetheless, theAmerican Life performance is a great example of Madonna's unrivalled ability to marry her the artificial aspects of pop music with much bigger themes.
Sometimes, though, you just want a fun performance, and Madonna's incredible thirteen-minute, four-song medley from the 2012 Super Bowl has already gone down in history as one of the all-time classic half-time sets, exceeding the shows put on by the likes of Bruno Mars and Beyonce in the years since. Madonna commands the attentions of every person in the 100,000 capacity stadium - not to mention 100 million+ viewers across America - in a way no other artist could.
Except for one.
So - who's the greatest visual artist of all-time?
It's the million-dollar question, and it's all but impossible to answer.
Michael had one performance style; Madonna's is the polar opposite. Michael has the most famous music video of all time and is single handedly responsible for popularising the music video format. Madonna's music videos reinvented her image to keep her relevant as a performing artist further into her career. And yet Michael's This Is It tour was on course to be a monster comeback... every counter argument has a counter argument. The truth is, it's completely subjective.
Me, personally? On a purely visual level, and having been a chart-topping artist further into the 21st century than Jackson, I think Madonna takes the title. From the Blond Ambition cone bra to the pink leotard from Hung Up, to the incredible spectacle of her six global concert tours this side of the year 2000 alone, she has proved herself to be the master of the visual medium.
Queen of Pop Madonna has kicked off her Rebel Heart Tour in Montreal.
The 57-year-old iconic singer, who has been wowing audiences for over three decades, belted out a selection of old and new and even performed Material Girl from the first time since her Blonde Ambition Tour in the 1990s.
DJ and producer Diplo warmed the crowd up with an hour's introduction set before the lady of the hour opened the show with a video in which she discussed topics including censorship and dictatorship.
Her entrance was as flamboyant as her fans know her personality to be and she descended on to the stage in a cage and then gave concert-goers two of the most energetic hours they may have ever seen.
Ending the show on a high note, Madonna draped a Canadian flag around her as she sang "Holiday" to a crowd who lapped it all up.
Her Rebel Heart album came out in March of this year and the tour continues to March 2016 where it finishes in Australia.
Madonna felt the spirit of Elvis Presley pass through her when he died, according to her brother-in-law, singer songwriter Joe Henry.
Elvis Presley died 38 years ago on August 16, 1977. August 16 is also Madonna's birthday.
Henry, co-wrote 'Jump' and 'Don't Tell Me' for his famous sister-in-law, as well as various album tracks.
In a post at his Facebook page Henry writes, 'I have told this tale before, but it bears repeating: when Elvis Presley died on this date in 1977, this upstart professed in real-time that she felt his spirit had passed out of his body and through her own in exodus.
'I laughed at her then for such outrageous self-possession, at the arrogance that I assumed must allow her to declare such publicly'.
Henry met Madonna in 1975 when they were both Michigan students at the same school. He had just entered his Sophomore year, she was a Senior. They were both members of the Thespian Society. They once played Mother and Son together in a school play.
Henry says, 'she was whip-smart and short on patience; and to tell the truth, she scared me more than a little. But along with her sister Paula, her presence upon my landscape nudged open a door through which I would pass and find my life utterly and forever changed.that unusual and sprawling family becoming, years later, my own'.
After knowing Madonna for 40 years Henry says, 'like anyone, I can sometimes forget to see the flesh and blood/heart and mind behind the parade float that is her public persona. But then I will find myself across the kitchen table from her, sharing a martini, and be additionally shocked to recognize anew the compact, terse-yet-compassionate human at the switches'.
Madonna has three brothers Anthony (born 1956), (born 1957) and Christopher (born 1960) and two sisters Paula (born 1959) and Melanie (born 1962). Joe Henry is married to Melanie. They have two children.
R.I.P Elvis Presley, January 8, 1935.
Happy birthday, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone born August 16, 1958
Madonna turned 57 on 16 August in typically flamboyant fashion surrounded by handsome young men. Her children, Lourdes, 18, and Rocco, 15, plus nine-year-olds Mercy and David, who both were adopted from Malawi, also threw themselves into the fun.
Rebel heart Madonna has every intention of growing old disgracefully
For her gypsy-themed party, the Queen of Pop wore a see through black gown, with a floral head dress. The centrepiece of the celebrations was a bar featuring a huge letter M in lights.
She was presented with a cake featuring a figurine dressed in her style with leopard-print knickers and a red top. It was emblazoned with the words 'Rebel Heart', which is the title of her latest album and a reference to her free-spirited ways.
Madonna posted pictures of the whole event with captions in praise of Leos and thanking her 'rebel hearts', as she also calls her fans, for their good wishes.
Madonna and her 'princess' Lourdes
The other important Leo in her life is son Rocco, who turned 15 last week at a birthday bash thrown by the pop star and her ex-husband Guy Ritchie.
In a clip posted to Instagram the proud parents looked on as the teenager blew out his birthday candles. Madonna was seen holding the cake while everyone sang. Then the film director tenderly put his arm around his eldest son and gave him a kiss on his head.
Madonna with some of her handsome young friends
A few days ahead of her own birthday Madonna also shared a throwback picture with her other ex-husband Sean Penn, who was born on 17 August. She had written: "It's almost our birthdays. Two Leos", noting that the black and white photo was taken by another Leo, well-known photographer Herb Ritts.
